Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention Director-General Jean Kaseya said on Thursday that funding required for the Ebola response had risen to $1.4 billion, nearly triple an earlier estimate of $518 million.
Speaking during a weekly news briefing, Kaseya said the humanitarian crisis in Democratic Republic of Congo’s Ituri province, the epicentre of the outbreak, was worsening the situation and hindering efforts to contain the disease.
“If we don’t have this $1.4 billion and if we don’t resolve the humanitarian issue, we will not stop this outbreak,” he continued.
The outbreak of the rare Bundibugyo strain of Ebola has infected over 1,100 people in DR Congo and 20 in neighbouring Uganda, reaching the highest first-month total of any episode of the disease.
